Junior Bridesmaids…. what exactly do they do?!

FI and I have had huge discussions about there being children at the wedding as I wasn’t very happy paying for 12 children I had never met (N.B. all kids coming are from his side of the family, there are no kids under 16 on my side, and my family is about 1/3 of the size of his!)

Having negotiated on this point and agreeing all children wil be invited (as I didn’t realise how important it was to FI), one child that was always invited was his cousin, who will be 8 (maybe 9) when we get married. I spoke to his mum today who told me she is really excited about being a bridesmaid. Now, where she got the idea from, I don’t really care to be honest. What worries me is disappointing her, and her feeling down for not being a part of the wedding.

I had never planned for her to be a bridesmaid, as I had never planned for any junior bridesmaids and hadn’t made allowances for them in terms of buying dresses etc. Having had some time to think about it, having her as a junior bridesmaid wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I don’t want it to cause too much of a headache/any logistical issues as that was one of the reasons I didn’t want any junior bridesmaids originally.

Family is hugely important to me (and to FI) and so I want everyone to be as happy as possible. For this reason I am seriously considering having his cousin as a junior bridesmaid, but have no idea what is expected of/for a junior bridesmaid! Does anyone have any insight?

I think a junior bridesmaid is a girl who is too old to be the flower girl and too young to be a bridesmaid but who you still want to be part of the wedding. They wear a dress similar to the bridesmaids, walk down the aisle in the procession, stand with the bridesmaids during the ceremony and are in the program. I would guess they are probably invited to the shower with their mother, but not to the bachelorette party.

Eight years old seems a little young to be a junior bridesmaid to me. I would almost consider that flower girl age.

My daughter was a junior bridesmaid at her cousin’s wedding, when she was 10. There wasn’t really a “need” for it; it was just something my cousin wanted so my daughter could be in her wedding. We came from out of state to attend the wedding, so she wasn’t really any help (plus age was a factor). That said, my mom did ALL the bridal flowers, so there was that, lol.

I consider it mostly and honor position, a fun way to include a young relative. I’ve been to one wedding that had one and she was about 10 or 11. She had a dress in the same color as the BMs but an age appropraite style. She really didn’t have any job besides walking down the aisle and looking cute in pictures. Basically the same as a flower girl in that respect.